Top Ten Running Buddies

Since Richard decided to blog in list format, I’m going to borrow that idea for my own list.

As validated by the immense popularity of training groups, nothing beats a successful training run except a successful training run alongside a good friend or group of friends. Over the years I’ve been fortunate to always have somebody to call or give me a call and plan the next morning or weekend to get up at some insane hour and run around town. My friend Chance, a local attorney, and I will hook up for a run almost every weekend during “marathon season” and alternately encourage and shame each other into shape for whatever race looms.

In a pinch, though, I’m sure that I could call the following folks to make an interesting morning of it.

10. Lance Armstrong

Turns out Lance is a pretty decent runner, too, what with a few sub-3 hour marathon efforts. After his first attempt, he very publicly said that the marathon was the hardest thing he’d ever done. I guess I’ll have to take his word for it, since I’m not about to try a three week, 2000 mile bike race. Perhaps the “easier” Tour de France is the real reason for his comeback.

9. Oprah

I’ve already had the pleasure, inadvertently joining Oprah’s contingent during the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon after seeing (but not really believing) signs along the course for a dozen miles or so. I wasn’t an official entrant in that race, using it instead as a training run for the NYC Marathon the next month, but by the time I dropped out at 20 miles, I had the chance to enthusiastically cheer her on in person.

8. George W. Bush

No matter what your opinion of his job performance is, you have to admire his dedication to the sport. He is far and away the fittest Commander-in-Chief, with a cover of Runner’s World to prove it. Knee injuries and public perceptions have kept his running to a minimum recently (he’s also given up playing golf in wartime). I had a brief exchange with then-Governor Bush at the ’99 Capitol 10K, when he commented in typical self-deprecating fashion that his knee injury that year would keep him on the starter’s stage for the entire race.

Cary, if you’re reading this, then it truly is an honor, because I read you every time. My fav E-N writer is welcome to go for a run with me anytime. And if you don’t do that kind of thing, then we should do lunch at some greasy spoon and you can make the observation about how my eating habits seem self-defeating.

6. Howard Peak

Ran into the former mayor once (not literally) at a 5K race years ago, when he was still mayor. Howard has dedicated much time and effort to the linear parks project, with foresight that is refreshing and a model for the next generation of public servants.

5. Sheryl Sculley

I also had a chance meeting with the city manager at a downtown restaurant a couple years back, where she politely engaged me with brief conversation when I interrupted her working lunch. I didn’t realize it at the time, but her comments to me about taking the local marathon to the next level were an indication of her Phoenix experience with Elite Racing, the group that is organizing Rock ‘n’ Roll here.

4. Al Gore

The first sitting Vice President to complete a marathon. Detractors mention that his running style isn’t very fluid.

3. Carl Lewis

King Carl, who attended college at UH, is one of my favorite childhood idols and perhaps the reason I run today. His dominance of the sprint events and long jump in the ’80s is untainted by the steroid era of sports, infamously launched by his disgraced former rival, Ben Johnson.

2. Mark Cuban

C’mon you guys… I’m no Mavericks fan. I just want to get him tired and then push him into the river.

1.Dean Karnazes

“Karno” is the current face of the running craze, and by all accounts a normal guy with a family who just happens to enjoy running for days at a time. I talked with him a bit at the 2006 St. George Marathon in Utah, when he was about halfway through his incredible streak of a marathon each day in a new state for 50 days.

Richard Teitz

One Response

Cool List! I used to run with Federico Pena when he was Mayor of Denver, and his girlfriend Harvard running star and Olympic Marathon qualifier Ellen Hart. Federico was not a great runner by any stretch but went on to Secretary of Energy and of Transportation in the Clinton Admin. They married and split, hopefully not over running disparities.

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